Snow and Organisation


Like the rest of the UK I'm shivering here in the snow. Okay, not shivering as I'm indoors and warm, but the snow blanketing the view from my window gives it a chilly edge. It looks like a fairytale though and gives lots of inspiration for writing, whatever genre you write in. 

With the prospect of being stuck indoors for the next few days, and with two deadlines looming my mind has turned to how I can make the writing process more efficient. I have recently discovered that dictating your manuscript can greatly increase productivity. I have tried this in the past and there have been many issues. However, most dictation packages now recognise your voice and common words you use. I am using the inbuilt one with my Mac computer and it is fairly accurate. Yes, you have to include commands such as, open quotes, new line, or no paragraph, but it soon becomes natural. There is still some editing to be done, especially if you have a Scottish Accent. I would seriously recommend that you give it a go.

Another programme which I can highly recommend is Evernote. This programme allows you to gather all your notes together in one place and it synchs across devices. I keep notes, pictures, voice memos and web clippings all in one file for each of my series and each of my books. I also use it to write sections of my book if I'm sitting on a bus, tube, tram or even a doctor's waiting room. I do this on my phone, when I return to my computer the writing is on Evernote in my computer, and it's a simple matter of copying and pasting. Thus, no moment is ever wasted. 


Evernote is an app which is available on all App stores. There is a free version and a paid version. I used the free version for many years before moving over to the paid version. This is more versatile and suits my needs better. 

You can find out more at Evernote There is a link for the free version which is excellent. However, if you do want a little more versatility the Plus version is inexpensive and will be worth its weight in gold. 

I hope this has helped. Hopefully it will help me get this blog out a little more promptly next month. Stay warm and keep writing. 

Over to you what productivity tips have you got for us?

About the Author

Wendy H Jones is the Amazon Number 1 best-selling author of the award winning DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries. Her Young Adult Mystery, The Dagger’s Curse was a finalist in the Woman Alive Readers Choice Award. She is also an international public speaker, and runs conferences and workshops on writing, Motivation and marketing. Wendy is the founder of Crime at the Castle, Scotland’s newest Crime Festival. She has just edited a Lent Book, published by the Association of Christian Writers

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Comments

  1. Thank you Wendy, this is very interesting. I use Memo and One Note on my mobile phone, and can keep notes and photos on them and I daresay other things as well. I haven't worked out yet how to sync them to my laptop. But I will have to compare them to Evernote to see if that might be better. Anything that helps us do more writing even when we're out and about is all good stuff!

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    1. You're welcome. I've got OneNote as well but not heard of memo.

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